QB decision: It's Craft

Kevin Craft arrived on campus April 1. Exactly five months later, he will start as quarterback for the Bruins in their season opener against Tennessee.

Rick Neuheisel named Craft as his third starting quarterback in the last few months, even though no games have been played since the former UCLA signal caller was hired to coach his alma mater. Patrick Cowan got the nod first, then suffered a career-ending injury during the spring. Ben Olson was knocked out for eight weeks during fall camp.

Of the remaining options, Craft has demonstrated the most poise and seems to be earning the respect of the players in the huddle. He's a redshirt junior after transferring from Mount San Antonio College.

Craft beat out redshirt freshman Chris Forcier, who had been the more fleet-footed of the pair. Many analysts had touted that mobility as an advantage behind the Bruins' extremely thin offensive line. Forcier sometimes looks a little like a righty Steve Young — who also wore No. 8 and studied under current UCLA offensive guru Norm Chow. Not to be outdone, Craft dashed for a 14-yard touchdown in this weekend's scrimmage.

Craft has been receiving the lion's share of the first-team snaps for some time now, and this announcement wasn't unexpected.

—Adam Rose

Los Angeles Times photo

(UCLA's news release is after the jump.)

From UCLA Sports Information:

UCLA head coach Rick Neuheisel announced today that Kevin Craft will be the starting quarterback for the season-opening Sept. 1 game against Tennessee in the Rose Bowl.

“We’ve decided to name Kevin Craft our starting quarterback,” said coach Neuheisel following the second of two practice sessions on Monday. “He’s earned it with his consistent play and he has the best mastery of the offense at this point.”

Craft, a redshirt junior, transferred to UCLA from Mount San Antonio Junior College in time for the 2008 Spring Quarter and was able to participate in spring practice. He completed 313 of 511 passes (61.3%) for 4,231 yards, 44 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season at Mt. SAC while leading his team to a 10-3 record and the Southern California Junior College championship. Craft had seven games with over 300 yards passing over the course of the season, including a best of 452 yards versus Cerritos College. The Valley Center, CA HS product threw for six touchdowns in three different games last season against Mt. San Jacinto College, Cerritos College and Moorpark College. He was named a first-team All-American by JC Gridwire and the California State Offensive Player of the Year by JC Athletic Bureau-California Community College Football Coaches Association.

Craft spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons at San Diego State. As a redshirt freshman in 2006, he appeared in nine games for the Aztecs and started five contests. He completed 69 of 121 passes that season for 737 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions. In his first career start, he completed 20 of 32 passes for 216 yards in a game at BYU. He also started games against Air Force, Cal Poly SLO, Wyoming and UNLV. He started two of his team’s three victories that season (Air Force and UNLV). Craft redshirted as a true freshman at San Diego State in 2005.

Craft would become the first Bruin quarterback to start a season-opening contest in his initial season following a transfer since Troy Aikman, who came to UCLA from Oklahoma, took the first snap in the 1987 opener against San Diego State (Aikman redshirted in 1986). He is also the first junior college transfer to start a season-opening game in his initial season since Mark Harmon in 1972.

Comments

[The Realist]

Though Craft may have a shaky O-Line, he caught lightning in a bottle with Norm Chow as his new OC. As a Trojan fan I thought Carson Palmer was overrated in his first two years. Norm Chow transformed him into a thoroughbred and ultimate Heisman winner. Craft will have an outstanding season!

P.S. Like many Angeleno Trojan fans, I root for UCLA every Saturday except one.

[Don Moore]

When did Dwight Stones attend UCLA? I thought he went to Long Beach State. Big difference.

[Adam Rose]

Stones attended both UCLA and Long Beach State, competing for each school at different times in his NCAA career. He was a UCLA freshman during the 1972 Olympics. I don't have the rest of his college info handy.